


Double Agent

by 33_001



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon Divergent, M/M, same age au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 06:40:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28466946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/33_001/pseuds/33_001
Summary: Sasori gets the chance to volunteer for a simple mission to use for finding a new double agent in Iwagakure - and finds someone a bit more than just a tool.
Relationships: Deidara/Sasori (Naruto)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19
Collections: Akatsuki Gift Exchange





	Double Agent

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JacarandaBanyan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JacarandaBanyan/gifts).



> Hey there!  
> I spent the last 15 minutes thinking of a title and coming up with nothing so... Anyway.
> 
> Sorry for making you wait so long, I'm notoriously late, always - but I hope you had a great holiday time, whatever it may consist of for you, and hope you'll have a great New Year!
> 
> Now to not make you wait any longer, here's a oneshot based on your first prompt c:

"Why would I send one of my best soldiers on a simple delivery mission?" The Sandaime Kazekage's look was stern as always.

Sasori's was the same.

"I am flattered", he answered, not at all appearing so – and he knew this wasn't the purpose of the Sandaime's words, anyway, "but if I may be honest with you, it is a request out of personal interest."

So far, this was true.

"Elaborate."

"I have been interested to visit Iwa for some time now. I'm sure you are aware I have been expanding on my collection of poisonous flora and fauna to create new toxins and there are some species endemic to Iwagakure's surrounding area, that I'd like to add to it."

This part – not so much.

But of course he had done his research. Akasuna no Sasori was not one to tell lies on a whim if he could help it – his farce was backed up well. By true interest and certainly he would also be able to get a hold of one of said species, even when his main focus was something very different.

But the Kazekage wouldn't allow such a mission without good reason & the fact that Sasori had started to collect spies just like he collected poison ingredients was a secret only he himself knew about.  
And he did not intend to tell anyone, not even – and especially not – their Kazekage.

"That is, unless there's another pressing business you'd have me rather attend to."  
Sasori knew there wasn't.

The Sandaime paused for a moment. Then he shifted back in his seat.

"Alright then. I'll send you with a support-"

"What for?"  
Most would not dare to interrupt the Kazekage like this. Sasori did barely notice.

He did notice the minor shift in the Third's usually undisturbed countenance, though, but he already continued:  
"It's a simple delivery mission and I am one of your best soldiers – in your own words. Iwagakure is not far."  
And yet, he'd never been there.  
  
The Kazekage sighed.  
  
He would have sent a team of three, the standard, if it was not for Sasori.  
But there was nothing objectionable about those statements – it were his own after all. He knew Sasori would manage without support.  
  


"Fine."

The way to Iwagakure went by without any incidents, when Sasori took off a day later.  
But, as he came close to his destination, not without some self induced relays.

Reaching the outer regions nearing the city, he slowed himself down - too tempted by the actual opportunities to look for a certain poisonous plant native to Iwa, known to grow as a dry shrub between rough grasses on the dusty ground: just like the region he was passing.  
And _only_ there.

His lie wasn't a lie in itself after all, but a cover – and what made this cover so believable was his very real interest in the poisonous species thriving here.

But it was a scarce plant – of course it was – and not readily available without any effort of looking for it.  
  
When he started to, there was plenty of time left to reach Iwagakure on time.

When he had to give up, he had to continue in a faster pace.

Sasori arrived at the villages entrance barely on time and one of the guards leading him inside escorted him to the Tsuchikage's office bulding, in quite a hurry himself.

It was the first time Sasori wondered, what kind of message he was delivering in the first place. But only briefly.

He knew the mission would have run differently if it was of truly high importance and thus he did not care too much.  
And after all, if everything would go according to plan, he would be able to draw information from another source soon enough.

As he walked outside of the Tsuchikage's office to Iwa's streets, it was almost sundown and for a moment he paused.  
It was quiet around the building, though some streets further there were lights in the distance and voices to be heard, a mild warm feeling emanating from resident bars and locals.

It was not for Sasori.

And it felt different to home, though he could not pinpoint exactly in which way.

The climate, of course, was one thing. The day had been mild, but the night seemed to be as well, while in Suna both had it's extremes and he'd soon have to cover his skin not to be shivering in the cold desert night.  
At least those parts of his skin which still could – which were too many, asking him.

  
But well, the climate wasn't really what felt so strange about the foreign city. Neither was the fact, that Iwa's population was about double that of Iwa – and it was notable not only in the size of the village, but also in the dense build and well, that liveliness in the streets which would have become quiet in most of Suna's streets by now.

It wasn't that he missed his homeplace, he wasn't too attached.  
  
Maybe it was just because Sasori was not used to be away from the desert too often, and even if so never for long. So of course, there was a familiarity to it, that other places could not offer.

And he was not sure how it made him feel.

But he rid himself of the thoughts ans stopped pondering – there were more important things.  
He would stop by the room he had been given for the night first, he thought, only to change into civilian clothes.  
If it was true what they said about the Iwa-nin's loyalty and strong will he might have better chances when not giving away where he came from too directly, especially since it was Suna of all places, and their respective villages were not known for their good amity at all.

He didn't get far, before a gust stuck something to his leg.

Sasori looked down. It was a ripped piece of paper.

When he moved his leg to get lost of it he saw 'ART' in big, somewhat crude letters before it tumbled away.  
  
It was not the only one. Here and there a few pieces lay strewn around and up on some walls and posts there were the remnants of the flyers still pinned to them – all ripped, some more some less.

He looked around and one of the few papers at the corner of the street seemed almost intact.  
Just as he approached it and leaned down to pick it up someone stepped up to him.

"Interested, hnn?"  
  


Sasori looked startled.

The Iwa-nin was about his size, had long blonde hair and wore the standard red uniform.

And he recognized him from earlier – he had been in the office before him, and had looked pissed as he barged out the doors.  
Sasori hadn't paid further attention. He'd seemed immature.

"I put those up", the other eyplained before Sasori could answer. "Planned a little exhibition of my art and it's just the right time, it's even more impressive at night, hnn!"  
  
"So? Does not seem like the people were too impressed with the idea, to begin with."

The blonde scoffed, wrinkling his nose.  
"That was on command of the stubborn old man..." He nodded into the direction of the Tsuchikage's building. "Ohnoki has no appreciation for art. This whole damn village might not."

For a moment he looked truly bitter.

"Anyway, I heard Suna's got a beautiful layout", he suddenly changed on a lighter tone though and walked a few steps, obviously expecting Sasori to follow, though he stayed where he was. "I'd love to visit sometime, but I'm not as lucky as you to be sent to boring delivery missions."

Now it was Sasori who scoffed. "I'm on this mission because I chose it."

"So? Why would you want that?"

Sasori looked at him for a moment.

So what he got from him was that taken from the way he talked about him, he seemed to be somewhat close to the Tsuchikage. If it wasn't just hot air, he carried out higher ranking missions. And obviously the relationship between him and the rest of the village – and it's leader – was not flawless.

"Maybe to see your great exhibition."  
Sasori's words were drowned in sarcasm, but he followed and it seemed to be enough for the now grinning blond.

They started walking towards the direction of the village's entrance and the Iwa-nin introduced himself as Deidara.

"You probably haven't heard of me yet, but you will, hnn", he added with a toothy smile and Sasori returned a not quite convinced look.

Right as he opened his lips to ask him something Deidara beat him to it.

"Do you know what kinda message you delivered?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Don't you want to?"

Sasori lifted an eyebrow. "Do _you_ know?"  
  
"No. But I'm sure I will, soon, hn."

_So?_ "Are you close to the Tsuchikage?"  
Sasori spoke the question somewhat carefully – but apparently that wasn't necessary at all. That guy did not seem to care.

"Hmm, he raised me."  
  
 _Oh?_ Sasori's attention perked with the information the man who so conveniently walked up to him was not just in close proximity to the Tsuchikage – but also seemed so very unconcerned.

"My parents died in the war, you know", he continued and just shrugged it off.  
  


For a moment Sasori's face lost a little of its composure, and he watched him with a hint of bewilderment. How could someone say something like this so carelessly?  
It almost angered him a little.  
  
"Mine as well", he responded nonetheless. "My grandmother raised me."

"Great, dead parents and raised by old people... We have _so much_ in common already. What else?" Deidara rolled his eyes with a smirk upon asking, clearly not expecting something serious, but Sasori took the chance to mention that he was in fact an artist himself – which drew a very pleasing wide-eyed reaction from the Iwa-nin.  
  
"Great!", he found, "You'll love my work! Another artist surely can appreciate what those unartistic masses can't, hn! Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Deidara talked a lot with his hands, Sasori noticed – and excitedly had picked up pace, walking in front of him and turning around a bit.

He wanted to go on talking but this time Sasori beat him to it and just talked over him before he could get too much into it.

"Why does he order to take your flyers down, if he raised you? Don't you get along?", he inquired.  
  
"Hmph. We manage. But he hates ... art in general I think. His whole life and mind is occupied with politics and conflicts and he wishes for me to get as dull as him, as well. That I focus on missions and be of use to the village. He says a Jounin of Iwa should listen to his orders more carefully and I couldn't count how often he 'ordered' me to abandon my art."  
He scoffed in distaste.  
"Obviously that's not going to happen. What kinda artist would I be if I chose to stagnate and give up on my passion just like that? And an artist is what I am first and foremost, I'd give away my title as Jounin anytime, it's just a _word_. Who cares about ranks. Besides – I wouldn't have come this far without my art! Art has it's place on the battlefield."

"True", Sasori just said – that much he could certainly relate to. And that little word of affirmation obviously had great impact on the other.

Which was woderful – with how it was going this guy would be easily flattered when he just complimented his art and would be the perfect fit to provide him with information in the future.  
  
"Right?", he exclaimed with a gleam in his eyes as he led Sasori to the village's entrance walking backwards and extending his hands, palms upwards. "My Kekkei Genkai allows me to use explosive chakra", he briefly explained and Sasori furled his brows upon those words, but continued listening while the blond continued talking.  
"And those help me fuse it into clay", he said and his palms spread open, revealing sets of teeth and tongues soon poking out between them.  
  
"Oh", Sasori said, with mild interest – but he was quite interested actually. He'd never heard about a jutsu like that and an inquiring mind always loved to learn new things.  
"Are they part of a Kekkei Genkai?"  
  
"Nah, that's a Kinjutsu I stole, hn."  
  
Sasori looked up from his palms to his face, somewhat unbelieving – he really was reckless – but then a thin grin slipped onto his lips.

They talked about the jutsu and Deidara's criminal efforts and the consequences – which were mild because the Tsuchikage apparently had high hopes in him, would he just abondon his passion – while they made their way out of the village and through the scarce nightly landscape.

Eventually they came by a temple.

It was empty and not much was around, but adorned beautifully and Sasori commented on it's beauty. Deidara agreed.

"It really is. One day I'm gonna destroy it and leave this place! But for as long as I'm here, I love to come here. It's inspiring."  
  
"Destroy it?" It was just slight disbelief, since by now he was aware the guy was ... eccentric. Still... "Why would you? If you think it's beautiful you should value it's existence, and strive to keep it for other's to appreciate its beauty as well."  
  
"Life's not gonna wait on you. Why should art? It's here for the people who _want_ to see it now. But barely anyone ever visits. As I said – it's the unartistic masses. In fact, when it's gone I'm sure it'll be appreciated more. It makes people remember the things they once had. It sparks new creativity, hnn!"

  
Sasori thought he'd just have to play along... But the plan to compliment his art as a cheap and easy way to gain trust proved harder the more he learned about his artistic views. 'Artistic'...

When he showed him his clay figurines, Sasori actually found them decent. That was something he could compliment. Appreciate the sculptures' clean lines even though the style of art was so different from his and he surely felt his own works were superior.

But when he made them explode and explained the ways he viewed that as art, compliments were unthinkable of.

"Pretentious", Sasori said at some point instead and the blond, despite apparently truly offended for some moments, just became more keen on proving his point.

Despite the colors with which Deidara lit the nightsky.

Despite the fact they were _pretty_ , maybe even _beautiful_ , but just not _artistic_.

They were messy. Rough. Unpredictable.

  
Sasori could not get behind his understandings of art – but he _could_ get behind some of the feelings he had attached to it.

Showed him his own works, too, and what they could do – and by the point they started to discuss the use of their art in battle their conversations had become heated. Sometimes in enthusiastic agreement, sometimes in just as passionate divergencies.  
More often the latter.

Nonetheless, it was passing the time very effectively. Too effectively, maybe.  
Sasori almost forgot about his aims. (Just almost.)

"Haa, that was artistic", Deidara sighed wistfully as he let himself fall onto the dusty ground.

"I'd invite you to my place, but I guess you won't need a bed to spend the night anymore."

The blonde's gaze was fixed to the silhouettes of the mountains not too far off, behind which light's reach started to grow.

Sasori had barely noticed. He did not feel tired.

And he needed a moment until the words reached him and he turned his gaze to him, trying to read how those were meant.

But the blonde's wide grin when he returned the look could mean anything and Sasori turned his gaze away again.

"You asked me why I wanted to go on a simple delivery mission.", he said after a pause.  
  
Deidara looked up attentively, so Sasori continued.  
  
"I am recruiting spies from wherever I am able. This is why I claimed the mission. I've never been to Iwa before and a simple delivery allows me to spend time on a second goal."  
He turned to look at him again. This guy was not stupid, so much he'd learned during the last hours.

Deidara tilted his head and grinned. "How convenient I just walked up to you, huh...?"

"Indeed I though that as well at first...", Sasori responded in a murmur.

"At first? I'm your best bet, I can assure you. What kind of information does your Kage hope to get, hm?"

"None. It's personal business. The Kazekage does not know about my connections. Noone does. Not even my spies."

"Really, hnn?", Deidara watched him a moment, observing the Suna-nin's face. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"  
  
"You don't. And I have no interest to prove it. You won't remember this encounter either way – not that part, at least. Besides, what would it matter? If you agree to my purpose you are a traitor, it does not matter if you are a traitor for my purpose or for the Kazekage's."  
  
"Oh", Deidara made in a faked dramatic tone, "It does matter for the future prestige, hnn."

Sasori smiled, to his own surprise.

"If you want prestige you should be happy to spy for me. I will succeed the Kazekage, one way or another."

And the confidence with which Sasori said that barely left any doubts he was speaking of facts rather than mere aspirations.

They locked eyes for some silent seconds, then Deidara nodded, swept up in the moment.  
  
So Sasori began explaining – and Deidara was not happy with some of it.

"You called me pretentious but you're making our own spies forget about their purpose? Where did you get that idea from? How does it work?"

"Wonderfully. How should I know that you won't immediately inform Ohnoki about my plan? I barely know you. It would be easy for you to lie to me and it's safer for me to assume that you, in fact, do."

"But do you really?", Deidara questioned, raising a brow.

No. Actually he did not. Deidara seemed truthful in his indiscreet attitude. He believed he really just did not care about his village. But... "It does not matter. I'll be on the safe side, anyway. And even if I fully trusted you, which would be ridiculous after just meeting you, humans are faulty. If you do not know about me, you can't tell about me by accident or under any sort of pressure either."

Deidara sighed. "Well then, alright I guess. But how will you get your information?"

Sasori stood up from the ground where he sat and he reached out his hand to pull the other one up as well, with a fleeting smile. "I have a feeling you'll volunteer to go on the answer mission to Suna."

And apperantly that was right on point, as the Iwa-nin looked at him flustered, his face flushing just slightly.

"We'll see, hnn..."  
  
"Certainly."  
  


With that Sasori formed a few hand signs, which drew a surprised "Already?", from Deidara, but Sasori nodded.

"I have to set out soon."

He finished the series of signs and looked at him.

"Do I see you hesitating, hnn?" Deidara showed a lopsided grin, patiently observing the Suna nin's face.

"No", Sasori said, after just a mere moment of hesitating nonetheless – and Deidara's grin got a little wider.

Then he lifted his hand to his temple.

"Looking forward to meeting you again, Sasori, hnn..." Deidara still grinned.

"... Me too", Sasori returned – just before releasing the Chakra and letting him forget about it.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorryyy, oneshots without pre-established relationships or outright smut never get very shippy with me... I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless!!
> 
> I certainly loved writing it, your prompt was great~ <3
> 
> There were at least 50 other things I wanted to include and maybe I'll get back at some point to expand on it, but I just had to wrap it up at some points for now.
> 
> Also yes I make fun of Sasori by making him be slightly late just like Kishimoto did even if it is damn rude.  
> Or maybe I'm just projecting again lol.


End file.
